Joel Shapiro

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b. 1941, New York, New York

Subverting the distinctions between abstraction and representation, Joel Shapiro reconsiders the modern figurative tradition.

Shapiro creates abstract geometric sculpture that elicits a sense of movement and engages viewers’ physical and psychological relationships with space. In his recent investigations of the expressive possibility of form and color in space, the artist suspends painted wooden elements from the ceiling, wall, and floor, exploring the projection of thought into space without the constraint of architecture.

He has executed more than thirty commissions and publicly-sited sculptures in major Asian, European, and North American cities and has been the subject of more than 160 solo exhibitions and retrospectives internationally. In 2011, the artist energized the monumental forty-three-foot-tall gallery at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany with fifteen vibrantly painted wooden elements. his work has recently been exhibited at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2016); Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2017); the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (2018); and Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin (2018).

Joel Shapiro: Sculpture and Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, May 4–July 1, 2000.

1999

Joel Shapiro, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, September 20, 1999–January 23, 2000. Exhibition held simultaneously with the installation of Conjunction, a commission by Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) for the Embassy of the United States, Ottawa.

Victors for Art: Michigan’s Alumni Collectors at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Part 1: Figuration, A. Afred Taubman Gallery, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, February 19–June 11, 2017; Part 2: Abstraction, A. Afred Taubman Gallery, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, July 1–October 29, 2017; Irving Stenn, Jr. Family Gallery, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, August 19–November 26, 2017. (Catalogue)

After the Age of Aquarius: American Art in The Early Seventies, Vito Acconci, Michael Hurson, Bruce Nauman, Lucas Samaras, Joel Shapiro, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, April 28–July 15, 2007. (Brochure)

Masterworks of Modern Sculpture: The Nasher Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, October 1996–January 1997. Traveled to as: A Century of Sculpture: The Nasher Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, February–April 1997. (Catalogue)

From Figure to Object: A Century of Sculptors’ Drawings, Frith Street Gallery and Karsten Schubert Gallery, London, September 13–November 2, 1996. (Catalogue)

Summer group exhibition, works on paper, PaceWildenstein, Los Angeles, June 27–July 20, 1996.

Thinking Print: Books to Billboards, 1980–95, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 19–September 10, 1996.

Art at the End of the 20th Century: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery, Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, June 10–September 30, 1996. Traveled to as: Multiple Identity: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, December 18, 1995–April 6, 1997; Kunstmuseum, Bonn, June 1–September 1, 1997.

A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, April 5–May 31, 1987. Travelled to: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., June 28, 1987–January 3, 1988. (Catalogue)

Figure as Subject, The Last Decade: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center, New York, February 13–June 4, 1986. (Catalogue)

1986: A Celebration of the Arts Apprenticeship Program, City Gallery, New York, January 29–March 15, 1986.

An American Renaissance: Painting and Sculpture Since 1940, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, January 12–March 30, 1986. (Catalogue)

An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 17–August 19, 1984. (Catalogue)

The Modern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, May 5–July 16, 1984. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 1–October 14, 1984. (Catalogue)

American Sculpture, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, opened April 28, 1984.

The Private Eye: 20th–Century Art from New York and Connecticut Collections, Neuberger Museum, South Gallery, State University of New York at Purchase, New York, April 8–June 10, 1984.

The Meditative Surface, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, April 1–May 16, 1984. (Catalogue)

BIG American Figure Drawings, School of Visual Arts, New York, March 7–March 24, 1983.

Entering the Eighties: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Connecticut, February 11–April 13, 1983. (Catalogue)

Directions in Metal: Work Produced at The Johnson Atelier Technical Institution of Sculpture, Brainerd Art Gallery, State University College of Arts and Sciences at Potsdam, New York, September 1–22, 1982.

Twenty American Artists: Sculpture 1982, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, July 22–September 19, 1982.

Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, November 11, 1978–January 1, 1979. (Catalogue)

Dwellings, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, October 20–November 25, 1978. Traveled to Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase, New York. (Catalogue)

100 Drawings of the 1970's from the Collection of Richard Brown Baker, Stamford Museum, Connecticut, October 8–December 10, 1978.

Small Sculpture and Related Drawings, New Gallery, Cleveland, December 9–31, 1975.

Collectors of the Seventies, Part III, Milton Institute for Art and Urban Resources, New York, September–October 18, 1975.

Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture of the '60s and '70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, October 7–November 18, 1975. Traveled to: The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, December 17, 1975–February 15, 1976.

The Small Scale in Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, May 8–June 15, 1975.

Buddick, Ariella. “Sculpture Steps Outdoors: Art finds a way to stand out from the environment around it.” Newsday, 24 August 2003. http://www.newsday.co…/ny–ffart3422788aug24,0,6229151.story?coll+ny–features–headline (August 28, 2003)

Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria. Texts by Adam D. Weinberg and Shamim M. Momin. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2008.

2007

After the Age of Aquarius: American Art in The Early Seventies, Vito Acconci, Michael Hurson, Bruce Nauman, Lucas Samaras, Joel Shapiro (exhibition brochure). Text by Dr. Chris McAuliffe. Melbourne: The Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, 2007.

Against the Grain: Contemporary Art from the Edward R. Broida Collection (exhibition catalogue). Text by John Elderfield. Interview by Ann Temkin. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2006: 97–100, illustrated.

American Academy in Rome 1999 (exhibition catalogue).Interview with the artist by Ester Coen; texts by Peter Boswell, Klaus Kertess, and Donald Kuspit. Rome and New York: American Academy in Rome 1999: 70–73, illustrated.

Israel Museum and The Cleveland Museum of Art. Modern Masterworks on Paper from The Israel Museum. Texts by James Synder et al. Jerusalem: Israel Museum in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

Lee, Pamela and Christine Mehring. Drawing Is Another Kind of Language: Recent American Drawings from a New York Private Collection. Text by Dieter Schwarz and contributions by Christian Schneegass and Julie Vicinus. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Art Museums, 1997.

Queens Artists: Highlights of the 20th Century (exhibition brochure). New York: Queens Museum of Art, 1997.

Whitney Museum of American Art. American Art Since 1970: Painting,Sculpture, and Drawings from the Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1984.

Williams College Museum of Art. TheModern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College Museum of Art with The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1984.